Glitched
by outerelf
Summary: How Inferno found out about Red Alerts glitch, and how he got it...
1. Chapter 1

Hmm, to all those who PM'd me with oneshot ideas, I'm sorry, but I can't get on my email… But yeah, this is how Inferno would find out about Red Alerts glitch, and why it's so aggravated.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSs

The second the twins came charging into his room, Ratchet knew very well that there was trouble. And that it seemed to be concern for someone else, for neither twin was hurt at all. His optics focused on them blearily as he rasped out, "What do you two want?"

"Umm, Ratchet, I think we caused a mech we know to umm…"

Ratchet sat up, "Is their energon pouring out of them at an incredible rate?"

"No, but-"

"THEN DON'T DISTURB ME!" Ratchet howled, feeling exhausted, tired and cranky. "It's one of my off days!"

"But we think they crashed!" Sideswipe said quickly, clearly agitated. "They've been staggering around, muttering like crazy, and nearly killed any who got near!"

Ratchet hissed in frustration as he got up.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert heard them coming long before they got to the room. His sensitive auditory receptors caught the noise of their walking, and he spun, tensing. The room was completely empty, and he wasn't going down. Their was no way he was going to allow anyone to destroy him or sell him for spare parts-

The door hissed open, and Red Alert crouched, his gun unwaveringly rising up to point at the newcomer. Some small part of his CPU stopped him. It was a medic, and medics were untouchable.

He pulled back, stumbling slightly in his confusion.

0o0o0o0o0o0

When the mystery mech had pointed the gun at Ratchet, for a brief moment the medic had thought he was going to be shot. But then, something flashed in the mechs optics, and the Lamborghini stumbled back, still tense as a wire, but no longer quiet so willing to shoot.

Ratchet recycled air softly, glad that the mech apparently trusted medics just a little- he took a step foreword, and very nearly got shot.

Ratchet stared at the gun pointing directly at him, and forced himself to calm down. "Stop that right now." He snarled, one hand slowly clenching a wrench. He would get only one shot at the mech, and that was it.

The mech tensed even further, and his optics darted towards the wrench. _Crud. He's already spotted that wrench. Well, the next best thing to do would be to…_

With no warning at all, Ratchet leapt foreword, bringing his wrench down had on the mechs helm. It clanged off the helmet eerily, and the mech dropped like a stone. "Sideswipe, Sunstreaker. Because you two did this, you get to carry him to the med-bay."

The twins grumbled as Sideswipe easily hoisted him up. They passed by several groups of mechs, who were torn between curiosity and fear. Whispers grew as they walked, and Ratchets back grew stiff as he listened to them.

"Red Alert? Are you sure? I heard that he-"

"-A glitch, eww, what are they doing here?"

"-are you sure that he's a decepticon?"

"I bet you that he really is a glitch-"

"I heard that he didn't even care when his creators die!"

The whispers and muttering grew as Ratchet listened with half a auditory receptor. _huh, I wonder why everyone seems to hate him so much?_

0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert stirred on the table, making Ratchet curse him heavily and roundly. One optic onlined slowly, as Red Alert listened to Ratchet, then slowly he asked, "What happened?"

"You glitched. The twins set up a prank that badly jolted your CPU, and your glitch came back full blast." Ratchet grumbled, giving Red Alerts helm a slight, soft whack. "You really can't take a break can you?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I looked into your CPU. Nasty piece the Decepticons did. My question is why you haven't told anyone."

A hollow laugh escaped Red Alerts lips, as he stared at Ratchet. "And be experimented on further? No thanks."

Ratchet grunted, but he had to agree with Red Alert. If he told, the possibility of the higher ups ordering him to be further experimented on would quiet possibly go up. "It's amazing you aren't completely fried yet." Ratchet said conversationally. "But, I need you to stay here on this bunk for another couple of breems while I wipe the information off the computer. After all, it wouldn't do for someone to accidentally stumble over this."

Red Alert watched as Ratchet cleared off the data, and relaxed slightly. "Considering what the decepticons did to you, I'm surprised that you didn't shoot me on first sight."

"I think that they programmed me not to." Red Alert said softly, optics still on Ratchet warily. "Can you get rid of it?"

"Nope. Wouldn't dare. It's been so long if I tried everything you have would be fighting against me."

Red Alert nodded, sighing softly. His optics slowly offlined as he drifted into a light recharge, and Ratchet held still. He knew if he moved Red Alert would wake up glitched and he did **not** want to spend another few orns straightening out Red Alert's CPU.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Ratchet smiled slightly as he watched Red Alert and Inferno pass by, Inferno talking avidly and Red Alert listening closely. It had been vorns since he had met Red alert, and since Red Alert had become part of the Ark, but still, he had at first been stunned by the trust that Red Alert had placed in the fire trucks hands…until he realized that there was no such thing as a Decepticon fire truck. Oh certainly they had firefighters, but those were distinctly different.

Besides, Inferno held an aura about him that seemed to captivate Red Alert.

Ratchet watched them pass, when suddenly he had to know. "Red Alert, did you tell Inferno about that yet?" He asked, unexpectedly.

Red Alert froze, as Inferno looked at his friend curiously. Ratchet mentally cursed himself as he realized too late that he should of asked that in the medbay. However, Inferno should know if they were to progress to the next level of friendship, and Red Alert knew that.

Red Alert shook his head, as Inferno stared hard. "No, he hasn't." Inferno confirmed, optics curious. "But I think that maybe he should."

"Inferno-"

"Don't you give me the line 'it's nothing' Red! Whenever you do that means it means a whole lot."

Red Alert looked at the ground, and mumbled, "It's not" defensively.

Inferno crossed his arms, one optic ridge raised. "Red, I can read ya like an open book." He said softly, "It's caused you a lot of pain."

Red Alert gave a pointed glare at Ratchet, who unhurriedly went his way. He passed by Jazz, and quickly stopped the mech. "Jazz. Don't you have a check up to go to?"

"Oh, Ratchet!" Jazz squeaked, suddenly nervous.

Now, understand, he wasn't a coward. No, he had placed bombs directly in Megatron's recharge bunk. But nothing ever, **ever** compared to Ratchet's checkups, and if you missed one, Ratchet was sure to make your next even more painful then necessary. So the Ark made it a point to regurally visit Ratchet, even if they didn't like to.

Even Prime had learned his lesson. So it was a very nervous Jazz who quickly ran over the last time he had visited Ratchet in his CPU. "Umm, no. I visited you just five orns-"

"We had a battle since then. Come with me."

"But, Prowl-" Jazz said quickly. Ratchet firmly dashed any small hope he might have had of using Prowls name as an excuse.

"Prowl told me that if he saw you in the next three orns he'd personally throw you into space for disturbing him too often." Jazz wilted slightly, just as the twins came casually strolling by.

"Where do you two think you're going!" Ratchet barked.

They jumped, and turned fast staring at Ratchet. "We were going to the cafeteria-" Sideswipe began, when Ratchet quickly came up with the excuse to give Red Alert and Inferno the needed time to work out the newest development. "Too bad. I'm calling a mandatory inspection of all mechs."

"WHAT?!"

"Too bad. You lot are obviously not taking care of yourselves, and I might as well get you all over with soon."

"Alright, then how about I go get Red Alert and Inferno?" Jazz asked quickly. "I got a message they were headed down that way."

Ratchets optics flashed. "No, I think their quiet busy right now."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Inferno took a deep breath, trying to remind himself that yelling at Red Alert would do nothing. But still, he really wanted to know. Red Alert shifted from foot to foot, looking about ready run.

"Red." A twitch. "Red, what was Ratchet talking about back there?"

Red Alert stammered something, looking away. A sudden, terrible thought seized Inferno. "He wasn't talking about a spark mate, was he?"

Red Alert quickly shook his head, and Inferno breathed an internal sigh of relief. He didn't know if he could take it if Red Alert announced that he was taken. "So, what then?"

Red Alert looked at the floor, and mumbled fast. "I have a glitch."

"What?" Inferno didn't think he herd correctly. Red Alert, have a glitch? Red Alert nodded miserably. "Red, surely not-"

"I do. I have one of paranoia." Red Alert said flatly.

"And why didn't you tell me before?" Inferno demanded, sudden anger rising up in him.

Red Alert looked away, ashamed. "I-I I just…"

Infernos anger faded away quickly, looking at the completely miserable Red Alert. He knew what courage it must of taken for Red Alert to say such a thing, and personally he wondered if he could ever admit that himself. "Ah well." He shrugged, and looked down at Red Alert. "Were you ever planning on telling me?"

"Yes, just… later." _Later, when I wasn't afraid, or when I had my glitch banished. _Red Alert thought, but he didn't say it out loud.

He staggered heavily when Inferno lightly slapped his back. He hissed in pain, softly massaging his damaged nerve wires, glaring at the fire truck, who smiled innocently back. "C'mon Red. We still have an energon cube to get."

Red Alert nodded, and didn't glance at his friend for the rest of the walk to the cafeteria.

0o0o0o0o0o0

By the time they got to the cafeteria, Red Alert was desperately hoping that it was full. This was unusual to be sure, but Inferno hadn't said a word, and Red Alert wondered if Inferno was ashamed of being friends with a glitch.

The door slid open to the entire cafeteria empty. "Wonder what happened?" Inferno said aloud, glancing around. Red Alert shrugged uncomfortably, and made a beeline for the machines on the wall that dispensed the energon. He looked it over, swiftly choosing and picking out a cube. Inferno followed at a slightly slower pace, and suddenly bean humming.

Red Alert shot an odd glance at Inferno, wondering if decepticons had gotten into the programming of his best friend and reprogrammed him. Inferno chuckled at the odd look, and pointed at the wall. On it advertised a band that Jazz loved to play. Blaster hated the band, so the two of them would try to drown each other out, cranking up the volume of their speakers until Red Alert, Prime or Prowl would scream at them to shut it off, or turn it down.

Then it would go down, the other mechs breath a soft sigh of relief, and the fight between the two would once again escalate. It might end for a couple of orns when Red Alert would throw them in the brig, but Jazz and Blaster both refused to let the feud go, and the music would always invariably start up a little later.

Red Alert looked around, wondering which table Inferno would take, and wondering if he could get away with sitting at another table. Inferno evidently saw the plan, for he sat at a table, and patted the seat beside him. Red Alert hesitated for a split click, before realizing how ridiculous it seemed. He was in the room _alone_ with Inferno. It wasn't like he could claim that he was taking the seat of another person.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Ironhide grumbled to Bumblebee, "This just isn't right. Why would Ratchet suddenly call us out in the middle of the blue to give us checkups?"

"Knowing Ratchet, he probably wants to scare the sparks out of us." Bumblebee said softly, though his optics glinted with amusement.

"What I want to know is why Red Alert and Inferno aren't here."

"Ratchet said he had just checked up on them."

"Huh, I bet those two are having the time of their lives, while we have to wait here."

0o0o0o0o0o0

_I bet that everyone else is out having fun._ Inferno thought, his optics sidling over to look at Red Alert. Red Alert pretended not to notice the gaze, as he sipped gently at his energon. But Red Alert was tense as a spring, dispelling the illusion. Infernos gaze turned back to the energon in front of him, and unbidden the question came to his lips, "How did you become glitched?"

Red Alert paused mid-swallow, optics growing frighteningly large and distant. Inferno stared transfixed at his friend as a sudden change came over the security director. If Inferno had thought Red Alert had been tense before, it was like comparing a candle to a bonfire. Not even close.

He started shaking from the force of the memories, and Inferno regretted asking the question. "Wait, never mind Red!" He cried, panicked. "If you don't want to tell, or think about it, that's fine!"

Red Alert flinched at the sound of his voice, snapping out of his memories. "I've never talked about it Inferno." Red Alert said harshly. "Never."

"I can see why." Inferno murmured

Inferno worried what he was supposed to do as he looked at his still shivering friend. Slowly he wrapped an arm around Red Alert, murmuring, "Do you want to? It says telling a person what happened helps."

Red Alert hesitated, looking up at Inferno. Then, to Infernos complete and total surprise, the Lamborghini scooted closer. "Well Inferno, it started out a long time ago, I was sparked with the glitch, but it was much, much smaller. And then, the war came. My glitch became useful, but I never really thought about it, because nobody ever noticed. Then, one day, decepticons snuck aboard…."

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

And what did the decepticons do? Well that depends on you, readers! Review and tell me! (don't PM me, because unfortunately, I can't log onto my email account. Stupid thing refuses to work, and I can't figure out WHY!)


	2. Chapter 2

Hmmm, nobody suggested anything...

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

Red Alert paused in his tale, glancing up at Inferno, gauging his reaction. Inferno looked back down, completely serous.

Well, not completely. Some small part of his CPU was gibbering in pleased pleasure about how Red Alert was just about _made_ to fit into his arms. But that was only half of his CPU. The other half was serious, listening to Red Alert.

Red Alert looked at Inferno, and was torn, unwilling to reveal what had happened so many vorns ago. But, Inferno looked so serious, as if he was actually listening to him, Red Alert decided to take that leap. "Well, the decepticons came in and reprogrammed everyone…"

FfFfFfFfFfFfFfFfFfFfFf

_Red Alert screamed in agony as some soundless mind wave assaulted his CPU, attempting to make him stand up and rush to fight. He ignored it, his glitch fighting off the mind wave as he attempted to crawl towards a consol. He reached it, and slowly typed in a code. "Actions complete. Now uploading virus." Came the computers mechanized voice, and Red Alert sighed softly as he slipped into unconsciousness. _

_He was ignored by all others, for they had been programmed to kill all those that moved._

_It was nearly two orns before the decepticons came aboard, searching for any survivors. Red Alert stirred weakly, his glitch, small as it was, only bringing him out of recharge, and not into fighting. One decepticon nudged another, pointing at Red Alert. "There. That one doesn't have a mark on him. How'd he escape?"_

"_Don't know. Should we take him back?" Asked another. _

_The leader of the group looked at Red Alert and slowly nodded. "Might as well. Now someone get to the controls and figure out what the code is._

_The decepticons scurried to their jobs, two picking up Red Alert, tied him up, and tossed him in the back of another. Red Alert stirred weakly, attempting to fight, but was quickly put down back under. But not before he heard unhappy cursing as a mech called out, "Boss, they wiped the files clean! If I try to recover, a virus will be uploaded too!"_

_hah, got you good. Red Alert thought, before succumbing to the wave of darkness._

_0o0o0o0o0o_

_When Red Alert woke up, he was unsure of where he was. He glanced around, optics slightly curious, slightly wary at the various machines, and wires that lay above him. _

_He knew he was strapped to a table, which probably meant that they were going to reprogram him or something like that. He sighed, optics off-lining. They came back on with a jerk as his auditory receptors caught a faint noise. He stiffened slightly, then forced himself to relax, pretending to still be in recharge._

_The decepticon was not fooled. "Now, now. I know you're awake, because I personally set your awakening time to right now." Red Alert warily onlined his optics, peering at the mech who was talking._

_He wasn't anything special. Just a medic, with the purple decepticon coloring instead of the autobot coloring. Red Alert sagged against his bonds, wondering what they were going to do to him. Probably take apart my CPU he thought gloomily, optics watching the medic wander through the machines. The medic stopped before one particularly sharp, pointed instrument, and Red Alert winced._

_Then, in a desperate bid to take him mind off of what was bound to come next, Red Alert began to mentally name off all of the machines he could recognize. To his own surprise, he could name many of them. In fact, many of them were often in psychiatrist rooms, where his creators had taken him in the hopes to help destroy his glitch. Red Alert stared at them, mentally going through what each machine was capable of. _

_The medic noticed his gaze, and chuckled softly. "You can probably identify what most of these are, what with your glitch." The medic paused. His own CPU was usually slightly scrambled, giving him the tendency to ramble on while he talked. "In fact, your glitch saved you when we sent that mind wave to your ship. The rest of your buddies tore themselves apart. But your glitch fought off the wave, and instead put you into a near stasis lock. I bet you were probably the one who also managed to wipe the data from off the ships computers."_

_He chuckled, louder. "Let me tell you, that threw the attackers into a rage. They still hadn't gotten the very important information, information that Megatron himself ordered them after. But you wiped it out just in time. If you had been a click slower, our compute expert would of gotten to it." _

_The medic chuckled again, the sound grating on Red Alerts auditory receptors, but he kept quiet, watching the medic. The medic paused, peering closely at Red Alert. "Yep, you are the unusual one. Usually they'd be screaming for me not to. Of course, I always did anyways, but their screams always made me feel ashamed." He patted Red Alerts shoulder, ignoring the burning optics of his captive. "I'm glad you aren't screaming. Yessirie, screaming always does ruin a good meal of energon."_

_Red Alert wasn't screaming because he couldn't. His voice capacitor wasn't online, despite his body working to make it so. Otherwise he'd be letting off a high enough of a screech, guaranteed to shatter glass. The medic started flicking on several of the machines, talking all the time. "Lets see, this one should help enlarge the glitch, while this one should pinpoint it. I wonder if this machine will be able to sift through his memories… nah, with his glitch it might be a delicate process. Don't want to damage the goods quiet yet. Now, lets see here…"_

_Red Alert wondered what was going to happen to him as he listened to the insane wanderings of the medic._

FfFfFfFfFfFfFfFfFfFfFfFf

Red Alert cut off with his story-telling with a snap, as his auditory receptors caught the faint footfalls outside of the door. He pulled away from the surprised Inferno, and stared at the door. Jazz came bounding in, smiling brightly. "Hey you two! Whatchya doing?"

"Nothing." Red alert muttered, and looked up at the clock. Still five breems until his shift was on. He wondered for a split moment whether or not he should just go early, when Jazz sat down next to him. He tensed, feeling trapped. Inferno apparently saw this, for he stood up hastily, asking Jazz, "Hey Jazz, you haven't told me what the odds of Wheeljack and Ratchet becoming sparkmates."

Red Alert snorted softly, shaking his head. Inferno cocked a head at him as he asked, "Do you know Red?"

"How could I not? I was their when they were first introduced. Those two went head over heels for each other, and three nights later were interfacing."

Jazz's jaw dropped in shock. "That fast?"

Red Alert shrugged, looking away. Jazz suddenly realized that right here in front of him was a very big source of information. "What about Prime and Elita, have they ever done anything?"

"Jazz, you should know. You interrupted them the last time she came. Along with Ironhide and Chromia. Between the two femmes, I'm surprised you weren't killed."

"Perceptor?"

"I don't think you need to know about that."

"Then Hound and Mirage?"

"Secret for now." Red Alert said, a slight glint coming to his optics.

Inferno was stunned by that glint. A teasing glint? He didn't think Red Alert knew what teasing was. But it vanished as quickly as it come, making Inferno wonder if he had actually seen it. Red Alert stood up, and hastily excused himself.

Jazz watched him go, and sighed dramatically. "That guy. How does he know so much?"

"Well, he is the security director. And knowing Red, he probably has hidden cameras and listening taps everywhere." Inferno said dryly.

Jazz laughed, and leaned against the table. "You know, I met someone who knew Red Alert before the war." He said causally.

Inferno perked up, even as he resented Jazz using his nickname for Red Alert. "Oh really."

"yes." Jazz paused, and shrugged slightly. "He said that Red Alert had always been a little twitchy, but he usually had a good sense of humor. But then one-day Red Alerts ship disappeared, and he was presumed dead. Then, Red Alert came back, twitchy and jumpy." Jazz paused, looking at Inferno.

"Nobody knows what happened during that blank time, but when he came back he was nearly dead, and certainly out of his CPU, mumbling about decepticons, reprogramming, mind waves, data, and other things. The mech couldn't believe that they were the same mech."

Inferno fell silent, remembering what Red Alert had told him. Then he looked up, smiling slightly. "Don't worry about it. War does strange things to a mech. Look at Prime for example."

Jazz nodded, even as Inferno became determined to find out more. What had happened to Red Alert while in the hands of the decepticons?

0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert sat down in front of the screens, but he couldn't concentrate on them. Infernos question had brought up too many memories. After he caught his CPU wandering for the fifth time in as many clicks, Red Alert gave up. He was about to call someone to take over while he sat and shivered in his room for the next couple of orns when the door slid open, and Inferno peeked around the door. "Umm, Red?"

"Yes Inferno?"

"I'm just wondering if you'd be willing to tell me the rest."

"Now?"

"Why not? No one else should be coming by for awhile, and the decepticons are still licking their wounds, so they probably won't attack."

Red Alert muttered something softly, but inwardly he had to agree. The decepticons were less likely to attack now then usual. So he turned slightly, so he could still watch the screens, and look at Inferno at the same time. "Well, the medic did experiment on me."

Red Alerts optics darkened at the memory, as Infernos fury at the decepticons rose. Red Alert played with a slightly loose wire as he said softly, "They attempted to find a wave on which they could control my CPU, but my glitch always fought it off. There were consequences of course. My glitch grew larger and larger, until it seemed like it would fry my CPU before too long, so they had to pull back. They also began searching for a way to duplicate it, so that way the autobots couldn't control their troops."

Red Alert sighed tiredly, huddling down into his chair. "Then began the torture. They wanted to see how my enlarged glitch would react to being put in a stasis lock, and several things like that…"

_The medic smiled as he looked at the screeching Red Alert. "Yes sir, he's coming along nicely. About half of his CPU is scrambled, and I've just about pinpointed his glitch."_

"_Good, good. Do you think we can transfer it into our own troops?"_

_The medic fell silent, thinking. "No. We'd need real machines to try that, and I only have the broken down stuff. To completely capture his glitch you'll need to get some of those new fancy machines."_

"_Very well. I'll see what I can do."_

_Red Alert thrashed on the table, his glitch and CPU warring with the waves that were attempting to take over his CPU. His hand clenched, and lashed out, despite the restraining bonds, catching the delicate machine and breaking it. The medic tutted, walking over casually. "Third one this week."_

"_Third? Shouldn't you be tying him down more securely?"_

"_Nah, if I don't give him enough room to thrash around he'll hurt himself." _

_For the first time in orns the medic switched off all of the machines, and then began walking away. Red Alert slowly relaxed on the bunk, the ropes and wires that had been cutting into him now slowly slipping off now that he was beginning to relax. Even in his fogged, pained state Red Alert recognized what that meant, and slowly he relaxed even more, until at last he was mostly free._

_Slowly he stood up, staggering in pain. He moved foreword, and collapsed, unable to move another step. His CPU and glitch warred for control over his body, CPU demanding that he rest, his glitch demanding that he flee._

_It was his glitch that won out in the end. Slowly Red Alert got back up onto his feet, and staggered out the door. Instantly alerts went off, but Red Alert ignored them, and continued walking. He heard the sound of approaching feet, and ducked into a small room, hidden from the outside. The feet went by, and Red Alert could hear the screams that suddenly arose._

_an attack Red Alert realized, looking around. the Autobots are attacking. That gave him the last amount of strength needed to beat back the glitch and fall into a deep recharge. _

Inferno smiled as Red Alert stopped. "And then?"

"I was rescued." Red Alert said flatly.

Inferno frowned, "You don't sound too happy about that."

"Nobody believed that I was Red Alert." Red Alert admitted softly. "I had been missing for nearly a vorn."

Inferno stiffened. "Nobody's ever survived that long before! Not unless they were special."

"And I was. I'm just glad I got out when I did; otherwise my CPU would of fried. Badly." Red Alert said softly, then his optics went back to Inferno. "Out."

Inferno didn't bother trying to argue. He knew that Red Alert wanted some time alone, and if he wanted that, then Inferno would give it to him. But still, he hesitated slightly while standing, optics dark.

Red Alert didn't notice as he wrapped both arms around himself, wishing for something.

Inferno scrapped all of his plans, and sat down next to Red Alert, pulling the shivering mech into a tight embrace. Red Alert yelped, struggling, but Inferno murmured soothingly, "It's alright Red. If you ever see any of that lot again just point them out and I'll set them straight."

Red Alert let loose a tiny, shaky laugh, but he didn't protest.

For how long they sat like that, neither knew, but both wished that it might never end.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsssSsSss

Ok, the flashbacks weren't exactly what I wanted, but it's all right. And writing Red Alert and Inferno for these past couple of paragraphs made them seems rather ooc like, but I think I got Inferno down well, if not Red Alert.


End file.
